3-Ingredient Orange Chicken Sauce Recipe

While I love the convenience of setting and forgetting dinner, I LOVE crispy orange chicken. Here’s a crockpot orange chicken version too! Growing up, getting chinese take-out was the best thing ever. I honestly ate cream cheese puffs for breakfast. My most recent favorite restaurant for orange chicken is Panda Express (YUM!) I have tried a few copycat recipes that used orange juice and I just hated them.

Watch me actually cook it in this video!

I thought I would try their 3 ingredient sauce on top and it turned out lovely! In fact, my husband was very excited to take leftovers to work the next morning (Note: he always “forgets” it but not this time :-) While it doesn’t taste exactly like the restaurant, it has a fresh orange zest flavor to it. I think even adding some pepper flakes for some heat would make it better! Someone also mentioned adding garlic and ginger but I haven’t tried it. Make sure to check out my recipe list page for more easy meals!

In a sauce pan, add the BBQ sauce, marmalade, and soy sauce. Turn the heat on low and let it simmer for 20 minutes, stirring a few times.

Meanwhile, cut up your chicken breasts into cubes. In one bowl beat 2 eggs, while the other bowl should mix the dry ingredients.

Dip pieces of chicken in the egg and then cover in flour/cornstarch. Set on an extra plate.

Add a thin layer of oil to a frying pan and turn your stove on medium/high heat. Once it sizzles, add the chicken to the pan. Let it cook for 3-5 minutes each side until it's brown and cooked on the inside.

Set the oily pieces on a paper towel and let drain.

Add the chicken to the sauce and toss!

Eat it on top of white rice and enjoy. I think veggies would be good with it such as green peppers or broccoli.

If you still want that crispy chicken you can toss the chicken pieces in about 2tbsp of cornstarch then bake on a parchment lined tray for 12-15 minutes at 375° That is how I have made my chicken for Chinese take out copycats for years :)

Tasted like stale leftover takeout the next day but it was DELICIOUS the day I made it! The chicken was so juicy, I served it over white jasmine rice with some roasted broccoli, my husband and I loved it. I didn’t use all the sauce as a little went a long way and it did take quiet a while to fry all the chicken pieces but it was well worth it!!

Made this tonight it took forever to fry all the pieces of chicken but it was worth it. I’ve never seen my boyfriend get seconds. Tonight he did. So yummy. I added about 3 tbsp of chili paste to the sauce for heat and topped with sesame seeds.

This chicken Is amazing, I’ve made it 3 times now . Unfortunately im pretty sure its terrible for you soooo I started skipping the breading/frying part and honestly cannot tell a huge difference! I also used sugar free and saw no difference at all . You will love it either way! !

This was wonderful!! My two young daughters gobbled it up, as did my husband. We have celiac, so being gluten free, we never get yummy Chinese food, until now!! Thank you! Oh, I added a heaping amount (probably 1/4 cup of sambal) to the sauce – sweet and spicy, just perfect!!

I made this for my boyfriend last night. He questioned the ingredients off the sauce, particularly the marmalade. By the end, he was basically licking the sauce off of the plate and has already asked me to make it again this week. He referred to it as “Asian Chic-fil-A” I’ll take that as a compliment! Thank you so much for this recipe.

Wow! I’ve made this twice and it was excellent! Didn’t have orange marmalade, so I substituted my home canned pepper jelly the first time, and apple-cranberry the second. Tossed in a few shakes of hot pepper flakes, and used my own bbq sauce. Super easy! Did follow the recipe for the chicken- used half cornstarch half flour, and it turned out crispy outside and tender juicy in the middle; always had trouble using just flour so thanks for that tip too. Adding this to my regular rotation!

Made it tonight, cooked the chicken skinless in coconut oil and garlic then added steamed veggies to it and BAM! My mom stopped by and I even sent her home with the extra sauce and white rice so she could just make the chicken for her and my stepdad and they loved it too! Awesome recipe. Thanks for sharing.

Wow!! I am not a “sweet” chicken fan but was looking for something fast and simple for a weeknight dinner – this was quite the hit for my picky daughter and son who swears he hates anything with chicken. And I even went back for seconds. Highly recommend!

Very good–we loved this. I bought the Sweet and Spicy version of Baby Ray’s sauce, based on other reader comments–figured that would spice things up a little. I also omitted the soy sauce, but that’s because I tasted the sauce and it was delicious without it. Absolutely delicious.

Quilly, when I use fresh ginger root, i always peel the skin from the part I’m going to grate. I’m wondering, is it even necessary to peel it if i’m just grating it? I’ve been wondering that for some time now and you seem to know about ginger…thank you! And this recipe looks yummy. Disappointed by other attempts but this looks well worth trying…

My daughter, her best friend and I have ‘Old Lady Dinner Night’ every Friday…guess who’s the old lady, ha! This will be perfect for that, thanks! I will use potato starch because my daughter is totally gluten free and it has just a little more substance, more like flour, than the corn starch. I will also use a gluten free BBQ and marmalade. Can’t wait!

I happen to love Orange Chicken as much as anyone, although my granddaughters may try to compete with me; I’ll remind them that G’pa & G’ma have been enjoying the benefits of Orange Chicken, Sweet & Sour Chicken, & variety of other certain delicious Asian-Inspired recipes/dishes since before either they or their mother or Uncle were born.

Some adjustments that some might to try, either in place of the original recipe, or after trying the original: For diabetics, or those wanting to cut back on the sugar or sweetness added from the marmalade– seek out the reduced or Low Sugar version of this most tasty marmalade. Smucker’s is so great at making quite a few of the “Low, or reduced, sugar” jams & jellies – they are the best at this, IMHO!
If you don’t mind altering the consistency of the sauce try using the same amount of cherry or black cherry butter or jam. For a slightly easier “kick” I would certainly try the suggestion above from Jeniffer to use the “Sweet Baby Ray’s CHIPOTLE Barbecue Sauce”. Personally I prefer the subtlety of the added ginger, if I don’t have fresh on hand or in the freezer, I always have the dried, powder form of Ginger on hand from my everyday spices.

I live in Hawaii and we do a lot of Asian cooking here. Toss in a tablespoon of dried Asian peppers, then try grating a tsp of fresh ginger, dicing a garlic clove, and adding just a drop of sesame oil to the mix. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Yes, it’s a few more ingredients, but not really all that much work. You can keep the ginger root in the freezer. It grates easily even frozen — just one or two passes across the very fine edge of your grater.

Delicious! We tried this tonight and everyone loved it. I did put the marmalade through the food processor first and that helped reduce the chunks. I also added 1 tsp of ginger. Will definitely be a new recipe in our rotation.

I made this once before as my husband and I enjoyed it. I am making it again tonight and the only thing I am doing different is making a half batch and I put the sauce through a good processor since the Orange zest chunks were to big for my liking. Other wise this is a great recipe and is going to be added to our food rotation.